Reading Greens & Lining Up Putts – Direction in Putting

A well-struck putt heading confidently to the cup begs just one question – “Why can’t I do that every time!?” Improve your odds for a great putt by starting the ball on line to the cup, getting it going in the right direction. Establish a process of reading a green and lining up a putt, use the process every time, and improvement will follow. Trust the process!

READING A GREEN

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  • It starts before you get there.
    You’ve made your chip, which is really a putt for position.  Now survey the situation as you walk to the green. Notice the overall contour of the land, predominant slope, drains, nearby water, etc. Is it breezy? Now is a good time to quickly walk around the green and collect info.
  • See the big picture
    Greens typically go with the tilt of the terrain. Are you on a hill?

  • Know your territory
    Old greens are typically low in front, high in the back.  In Florida, greens tend to tilt to the water. Newer greens are more complicated. Look for the drain.
  • Get your eyes low.
    Greens are constructed to drain off in two or three places. Stand in the low point of the green and get even lower by kneeling. This vantage point is not always located behind your ball.
  • Pay attention to others
    Watch the way the ball behaves when your partners chip and putt. Pay special attention to the area right around the cup.
  • Read with your feet.
    Is the green soft or firm, wet or dry?  Your feet can even tell you about the tilt you’re standing on.
  • Make a note.
    If you keep a golf journal, record information about specific greens.  Draw a green diagram with little arrows for little breaks and big arrows for big breaks.

ALIGNING THE BALL
You’ve determined where you want to putt the ball. Now get it going exactly there.

  • Mark it … before you start playing.
    Draw a semi-circle with a Sharpie pen on your ball, nice and tidy with an inexpensive aid designed for the task. Many pro golfers mark their balls for putting alignment (and tee shots).
  • Mark it … on the green.
    Use a ball marker so you can move and reset your ball.
  • Aim for alignment
    Get low again, placing the ball with one hand out in front of you. Aim the mark you’ve made on the ball exactly down the path you’ve determined to start your putt.  Getting low behind the ball gives a truer read than what you get when you are in your putting stance.
  • An intermediate target is a fine idea.
    Pick out a small distinguishing feature on your target path – a blade of grass, a brown spot.  Try aiming for it instead of for the hole if there is break.
  • Match it up.
    Take your stance, matching the little guide on the top of your putter with the line on your ball. Trust it. Hit it.
  • Side note.
    Take your practice strokes while you look at the hole or target.  This will help you find the right speed. Green reading is also essential for speed.  We must know if we are up hill or down hill.
  • Persevere!
    Establish a process for your putting and stick to it.  You’ll see results over time.

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At Home On The Range – Etiquette at the Driving Range

The other day at the range I put my money in the ball machine and ALMOST forgot to put the bucket in place.  Only two balls escaped – comedy averted – but it got me thinking about being at the driving range.  Whether it’s a basic facility, a well manicured hitting area with practice balls in nice pyramids, or a full-service operation like Miles of Golf, there are ways to make your visit safe, considerate and fun.
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Don’t Go There
Never retrieve that mis-hit ball lying seductively just a few feet in front of you.   The unbroken tees out there aren’t worth your noggin either.

Keeping an Eye on the Other Guy
Don’t set up too close to other players or walk in back of them.  Before you walk into a stall, wait until golfers on both sides have finished their swings so they are not distracted.
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Curb Your Cell Phone
Enough said.

Pace of Practice
If it’s crowded, you don’t need to rush your practice.  Be mindful, work efficiently, and move away quickly when you’ve worked through your basket of balls.

The Art of Saying  “Thanks….. and Goodbye!”
You know him/her – Helpful Herbie.  This is the person who has personal insights into your golf swing… and apparently all the time in the world to share them with you.  Try saying, “Thanks, I’m working on that with my coach”.

What’s Right?
It’s perfectly OK to set up right-handers next to lefties.  No particular etiquette there.

Save the Grass
On grass tees, try to keep divot pattern close together to minimize area that gets abused.

A Word About Winter
If you’re playing at heated tees, keep your clubs close to keep them warm – and turn off the heater when you leave.
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Picking on the Picker and Other Strategies For a Good Time at the Range
You know what they say about golf, it’s just a stick and a ball.  It’s all about having fun.  So go ahead… it’s OK to try to hit the ball picker (we checked!).  Play some games, promise yourself some rewards, (I WILL go shopping if I hit 10 wedge shots within a yard of the target.  OK, make that two yards of the target), try something new, shake it loose…. you get the idea!

By all means, put that basket under the spout on the ball machine
At least once a week at Miles of Golf, someone doesn’t… who said golf isn’t fun?

Fall is Prime Practice Time – Some Ideas To Try

With a little cooperation from Mother Nature and some smart clothing choices, we can enjoy golf on and on through the fall season. It’s a splendid time to work on your game – the courses aren’t crowded and you can accomplish a lot. Here are two fun practice ideas that I use with the Women’s Golf Team at Eastern Michigan. Don’t forget your wooly hat!

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Car Trunk Lock-Away
One of the things I like to do is play a round of golf with just a few clubs, bringing along my least-used ones. Put the rest in the car trunk or you might be tempted to pull them out. Try using as few as 2 or 3 clubs; the experience will be very educational. I had my EMU team use only their odd or even golf clubs. Besides the feedback that their bags were lighter 🙂 , they all liked the experience because they had to be creative and hit clubs different distances with smaller or bigger swings. Their creative side was turned on.

Six Club Up-and-Down
Choose 6 different clubs, maybe a hybrid, 5 iron, 7 iron, 9 iron, pitching and sand wedges. It can be any combination of clubs. Pick one spot to chip from. From that spot chip one ball to the hole and putt it out. In order to get an up-and-down, your score would be 2 – one chip and one putt. Try to get up and down with each of the 6 clubs. Women on the EMU team get up and down with those 6 clubs and do it in a row! That will be the most challenging up and down game you will ever play. Hole it or not, you will learn what those 6 clubs do when you chip them, and you’ll learn to pick a different landing spot for each club.

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Unleash your creativity this autumn!

Don’t Put Those Clubs Away!

Words of wisdom from Eastern Michigan University Women’s Golf Coach and Kendall Academy Instructor

Summer’s winding down, autumn is in sight, and my ardent advice is, “Don’t put the clubs away!” Late summer and fall golf in Michigan can be downright glorious. There are so many reasons to keep swinging.

On the Course
End of summer the courses start to slow down. Tee times are easier to get, or not needed at all. When you’re one of just a handful of players out there, you have more time to play a shot or maybe even take an extra one without feeling rushed. As an added benefit, some courses offer slow-season price deals.
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Here’s To Our Health!
Do something that you love and get exercise too – is there any better reason to continue golf in the off season? And let’s not forget the social positives of connecting with friends. And how about the stress buster aspects of being active and out-of-doors? Golf’s a hobby with health benefits – let’s keep it up.

Getting Better All The Time
Fall and winter (ok, I said that cold word!) are great times to work on your swing. I always see a slowdown in my lesson business the first part of September, and though that is partly due to my commitment to the Women’s Golf  Team at Eastern Michigan, the end-of-the-season golf slowdown is also at work. I encourage you to think about golf improvement year-round.

I have a Women’s Practice Club that starts up the first part of November and runs through mid-March. Many participants will tell you that though they aren’t scoring a ball during those months, they are improving their techniques and using repetitive motion to fix flaws and improve consistency. Not worrying about scoring can be the best kind of practice.

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Picture It!
Golf is a game of mental imagery. Visualize your shot, picture the ball flight, see it headed to the cup. Off-season golf offers plenty of opportunities to practice the power of the mind. Work on mental imagery. You’re on your favorite course – it’s 80 degrees with a light breeze. In Winter Practice Club it’s fun to work on imagery drills . Picture green grass and sun shine! The looks on new winter practice members always give me a chuckle when the snow is flying!

We’re not ready to kiss summer goodbye just yet. There are too many good rounds to be had. But think ahead. Consider a lesson this fall or winter, and see where it takes you. (Lesson rates are also cheaper in the off-season) If you are looking for a fun weekly activity this winter,  consider the Women’s Winter Practice Club at Miles of Golf. Details will be coming soon. It’s the perfect way to beat Old Man Winter!

If you’re having difficulty scheduling a lesson with me because of my limited availability, just email me:  swagner2@emich.edu .  I’ll do everything I can to help you!

Practice with a Purpose

Everyone likes to practice but not everyone’s practice leads to improvement. In almost 20 years of teaching I’ve found that it isn’t just practicing that makes you better. It’s HOW you practice. Many people wonder, “Why can I do it on the range and not on the golf course?” Well, what exactly WERE you doing at the range? Firing off 100 drives without a target, maybe?

When you go to practice there should be a purpose to what you’re about to do with those 100 balls. Is the practice short game based? Is it putting that’s causing you to lose strokes? Or maybe it’s bunker shots? Some people have trouble with uphill/downhill/side hill lies on the course but do we ever practice them? Yet we expect to hit a good shot when faced with that situation on the course. I don’t think so!

Your first step is to figure out what area of your game needs the most work or what area you have the most questions about. That’s your focus during a practice session.

Here are some simple things you can practice at the driving range that will help lead you to better outcomes on the golf course.

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Warm up
Get your 100 balls and warm up with some short wedge shots and then a few mid iron shots. Now you’re ready for your main practice.

Pitching & Chipping Practice – The Ladder Drill
Hit a ball 10 yards, then 20 yards, then 30 yards, etc, all the way out to a full wedge distance. For some that might be 60 yards and for others it might be 100 yards. Then work your way back to the 10-yard distance.

See if you can transition from ball to ball the distance you want it to go. On the course you’re never the same distance from the target each time so you need to practice shortening and lengthening your swing to accommodate those distances. I see many people having difficulty making smaller swings when they get near the green.  That’s because golfers practice way more full shots than they do half swings.

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Putting Practice – Distance & Direction
To practice putting productively, separate it into 2 categories – distance putting (lag putting) and directional putting.

Distance Drill
Try putting a 30 foot putt to the edge of the green and see how close you can come without hitting the fringe. Try it with any number of balls. Taking the hole out of the equation works well for people because you’re not trying for a hole, just for distance.

Direction Drill
Lay 2 clubs down parallel to each other, just wide enough so your putter fits in there. Place the clubs in the direction you want to putt and not more than 15 feet from the hole. You want to swing your putter in this path to better guide your stroke to the hole. You will make a lot of putts this way so don’t be surprised!

On the course if a player is unsure of what she’s doing as she stands over a ball, her chance of hitting it correctly are about zero. She’s not committed to the shot she’s about to hit. If she’s practiced that situation, purposely at a range or with the guidance of an instructor, she will have the confidence to hit it successfully.  Now THAT’S fun!